Index for books.



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INDEX FOR BOOKS.

Hummm FILED APR.23.1907.

2 ,SHEETS- SHEET 1.

witnesses 'fw SHEET 24 170.876,767. PATENTD JAN.14 v19 Gpw. BOGGs. 08

INDEX EUR BOOKS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.23,1907.

2 SHEETS my invention; and Fig. 6 a plan view of one l a section on the line 3 3 Fig-3.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BOGGS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

INDEX Fon iaooKs.

Specvcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14,1908.

Application filed April 23| 1907. Serial No. 369.733-

T o all whom it may concern.' j

Be it known that I, GEORGE WASHINGTON BOGGS, citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Index for Books and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved index for books; l The object of my invention'is to provide an index device whereby books such as telephone directories and the like may be readily indexed, the index device being transferable from one book to another.

Telephone derectories being books which are re rinted at frequent intervals and furnisherij free to telephone .subscribers must necessarily be made as chea l as possible. Therefore, the indexing of suoli lio oks with incut margins, tabs pasted to the leaves or the like means such as has heretofore been employed with books of a more expensive class, would not be justifiable from a commercial standpoint. Moreover, the pa er employed in printing such books is of a imsy charac- -ter and the use of tabs or the like would result in the rapid destruction of the books and index.

By my invention a simple and economical means is provided whereb` any subscriber himself may furnish his te ephone directory with an index and may transfer said index from an old directory to a new 'one without appreciable delay.

With the above general objects in view, my invention consists in the features, details of construction, and combination of parts which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then' 'has been ap lied. Fig. 2 a front elevationy of an index evice embodying my invention, as it appears when placed on the market.v Fig. 3 a rear elevation of the same.

Fig. 5 another perspective view of a book embodying of the index sheets of the intermediate or second set. t

An index embodying 'my invention in its Fig. 4y -of a best form comprises a plurality of division sheets of dier'ent shapes and sizes, as will be more fully explained hereinafter; each of which, however, has one portion a of its to edge and one portion a of its left hand edge straight, these two straight portions of each sheet beingat right angles to each other and arranged to be brought into register with the top and back respectivel of the book into which the sheets are to e inserted. Each sheet also has its right hand edge a2 straight and arranged to register with the front margin of the book, and is rovided at this ri ht hand edge with a tab carrying a sui-ta le index designation, as. for example, a letter of the alphabet as shown at b, this tab being arran ed to project beyond each sheet, and there ore, be ond the front edge of the book.

In order t at the tabs and the index designations thereon may be suiiiciently large for convenient reading .and manipulation, and for the urpose of economizing paper, I make the s eets in such a wa that they form substantially three' sets indicated at A', A2, A3, Fig. 4, each set consisting of a pluvrality of sheets, the iirst and last set consisting of sheets of about one-half the length of the page of the 'book in which they are to be used, while the intermediate orsecond set consists of sheets of gradually increasing length, ,the difference in length between the respective sheets of this second set being substantially equal to the width of a tab.

The lower` edges of the sheets, except the last, a3, a4 in the first and last sets respectivel ,are cut at an angle, as will be clear from the rawings, theangles decreasing from the first vsheets a5, a.e of each of said sets toward the last sheet, `or in other words, the last sheets of the rst and second sets have their lower edges parallel to the top and bottom edges of the book, whereas the other sheets have their lower edges substantially radiating from a oint near the middle of the back of the index evice, as shown 'in Figs. 1 and 2.l The tabs are arranged in steps in the usual.

manner, those of the iirst and second sets illin substantiall thefull length of a page ook, while t e -tabs of the last set ex; tend from the to downward in regular order to about one-hal? the length of the book.

The upper ri ht hand corner'of each of the` Sheets except t e first is clip ed or cut at an incline from a point just a ove its tab to about the center of its top edge, as indicated vided with adhesive material, for example,

such as the gum used on postage stamps and envelops, this adhesive material extending along the straight portion of such margin, as indicated at C, Figs. 1 and 6.

For the purpose of convenience in handling and transporting the index device priorv to use, the sheets are detachably connected or bound to each other in any suitable manner, for example, by means of ordinary aper fasteners, as indicated at'D, Figs. l an 2.

To put the index in place in a book, for example, a telephone directory, whose construction and arrangement is well known, the pa erv fasteners are removed, the first sheet o the index is lifted from the others, a ortion of the margin which carries the adesive material is moistened or otherwise treated so as to render its adhesive properties active and then this sheet is inserted at the proper place in the book, with its -top edge flush with the top edge of the leaves of the book. For example, the first sheet a5 which has the'tab carrying the character A, would be inserted just before that portion of the telephone directory containing all the names commencing with the letter A. rI`he second and other sheets would then be inserted in succession in their proper places in the same manneras described with regard to the first sheet until all the sheets were `se cured in place in the book.

For the sake of conyenience, the tabs are provided with their res ective index designations not only on their ront faces but also on their rear faces, as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to transfer an index from one book to another, as, for example, when a new telephone directory is substituted for an old one, it is only necessary to tear loose the index sheets one by one from the old directory moisten a fresh ortion of the adhesive material and insert t e sheets -in the new directory in the same manner as hereinbefore described. of each sheetis sufficient to enable the index to be transferred many times before all the gumrned portion has been used, after which the index may be thrown away and a new one purchased, or fresh gum may be applied to the left hand margin.

I make the index device of pa er having a strength considerably greater t anthat of the paper usually employed in the class of books with which it is to be used, so thatrin transferring the index from one book to another, the index sheets may be pulled loose from the old book without danger of tearing the sheets, it being immaterial whether the leaves of the old book are torn or not, since The length of the gummed portion such old books are generally considered useless and are destroyed after the new books have replaced them.

By cutting the bottom edges of the sheets of the first and last sets and the top edges of all but the first sheets at an incline, I not only make the' inspection of the tabs more convenient but also give the index a pleasing appearance and avoid unnecessary square corners which would tend to become curled and catch the fingers.

It will be seen that by my invention, I can make a sufficiently strong and durable index which, because it can be transferred from book to book a number of times is sufficiently economical to justify its use commercially.

While I have specifically referred to the use of the index device in connection with telephone directories, it is to be understood that I do not limit my invention to such use, as obviously it will form a good indexing device in other kinds of books. y

A further feature of advantage in my invention is that the blank index sheets serve to receive entries of telephone addresses of those persons with whom the user of the index has themost frequent communications. In this Way, entries made by a user of the index are classified when made, thusfrendering such special entries immediately available, and dispensing with the necessity of a special register for this purpose.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An index device comprising a plurality of index sheets each of which sheets is provided at the inner margin with a strip of adhesive material and at the outer margin with a projecting tab having an index designation.

2. `An index device comprising a plurality y the top and at the inner edges respectively, these portions being substantially at right angles to each other, said sheets also having projecting'tabs provided with index designations, the tabs being arranged in regular steps, the top right hand corner of each sheet except the first being clipped at an angle.

' 3. An index device comprising sheets arranged in three sets, the first and last sets consisting of sheets whose length is not more than one-half the length of the longest sheet of the intermediate set, all of said sheets hav- ,ing projecting tabs provided with index dessoy o'f index sheets having straight portions at ing project' tabs provided With index deslgnations an arranged in regular steps, the

tabs-of the rst and intermediate sets extending from the top to the bottom of the index device, While the tabs of the last set extend from the top to an intermediate point of the index device, the top right hand corner of achsheet of the last and intermediate sets ein e purpose set forth. 5. An index device, comprising a plurality clipped at an angle, substantially as 10 and ort of blank sheets arranged tovreceive memoranda, each of which sheets is provided at the inner margin with a coating of adhesive material and at the outer margin with a pro-I 15 jecting tab having an index designation.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature inthe presence of two Witnesses. 

